Our Newest Ph.D.'s (IREAP Ph.D. Page)
2008, Diktys Stratakis (ECE), "Tomographic Measurement of the Phase-Space Distribution of a Space-Charge-Dominated Beam"
2008, Kai Tan (ECE), "Study of Longitudinal Dynamics in Space-Charge Dominated Beams"
2007, Matthew Cornick (Physics), "Problems in Spatiotemporal Chaos"
2007, Abhishek Motayed (Engineering), "Gallium Nitride Nanowire-Based Electronic and Optical Devices"
2007, John P. Palastro (Physics), "Interaction of Lasers with Atomic Clusters and Structured Plasmas"
2007, Seung-Jong Baek (Physics), "Synchronization in Chaotic Systems: Coupling of Chaotic Maps, Data Assimulation, and Weather Forecasting"
2007, David R. Gillingham (Physics), "Self-Consistent Simulation of Radiation and Space-Charge in High-Brightness Relativistic Electron Beams"
2007, Sheung Wah Ng (Physics), "Plasma-Neutral Equilibrium in Centrifugally Confined Plasmas"
2007, Anthony L. Franz (Physics), "Dynamics and Synchronization of Nonlinear Oscillators with Time Delays: A Study with Fiber Lasers"
2007, Robert Lunsford (Physics), "Parametric Limitations on Discharege Performance in the Maryland Centrifugal Experiment"
2007, Wilson A. Tillotson (Physics), "Numerical Simulations of Magnetorotational Turbulence in the Laboratory"
2007, Matthew L. Ferguson (Physics), "A Biophysical Study of Clathrin Utilizing Light Scattering, Neutron Scattering and Structure Based Computer Modeling"
Our Newest Masters of Science (IREAP Masters of Science Page)
2007, Michael Holloway (Engineering), "Emittance Measurements of the Jefferson Lab Free Electron Laser Using Optical Transition Radiation Interferometry"
New Members in IREAP
Michael Fuhrer joined IREAP in August 2007. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and the Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials and the Associate Director of Maryland Nanocenter. He received a B.S. in Physics from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He did postdoctoral research at Berkeley for two years with Alex Zettl and Paul McEuen.
Dr. Fuhrer's research projects include: electronic properties of carbon nanotubes; two-dimensional nanocrystals (graphene, layered transition-metal dichalcogenides); and single-molecule electronics. These pre-assembled nanoscale materials are combined with state-of-the-art lithography and analysis tools to build and study new nanoscale electronic and electromechanical devices.
Oded Rabin is an Assistant Professor at the MSE department and IREAP since Fall 2007. He received a B.A. degree in Chemistry from the Technion, Haifa, Israel, an M.Sc. degree in Chemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehobot, Israel, and a Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. He completed his postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School and at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Rabin's research program focuses on nanoscale structues and their interaction with their chemical and physical environment. His laboratory will developop synthetic strategies to make useful nanoparticles, nanowires, and nano-structured thin films. His areas of interest include: chemical sensing and molecule-nanoparticle interactions; advanced materials for thermoelectric energy generation; applications of nanoparticles as biomarkers for imaging, diagnosis, and repair; porous anodic alumina scaffolds; and molecular and nanoparticle transport in microfluidic devices.
Kristine Rosfjord is an Assistant Professor in IREAP having an affiliate appointment with Electrical and Computer Engineering. She received her B.E. degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. She served as a post doctoral fellow in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, working in the Quantum Nanostructures and Nanofabrication Group on nanowire single-photon detectors with Professor Karl K. Berggren.
Dr. Rosfjord's research interests lie in nanowire single-photon detectors, nanofabrication techniques, and applications in x-ray and optical regimes. She is also interested in the cryogenic dependence of optical properties and measurements.
Michelle Girvan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics with an affiliate appointment in IREAP. She received her B.S. in Physics and B.S. in Mathematics with a minor in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999. She received her Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, in 2003.
Dr. Girvan's research combines methods from statistical mechanics, dynamical systems, and graph theory to address interdisciplinary, network-related problems. She is interested in both broad theoretical approaches to complex networks as well as specific applications, especially to information cascades, epidemiology, and genetic regulatory networks.
Edo Waks is an Assistant Professor in IREAP with an affiliate appointment in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He received his B.S. (1995) and M.S.E. (1996) in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 2003 from Stanford University, Stanford, California, under Professor Yoshihisa Yamamoto in the field of quantum optics and quantum information. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Ginzton Laboratory of Stanford University with Professor Jelena Vuckovic on the application of nanophotonic structures, such as quantum dots and photonic crystals, to quantum information processing.
Dr. Waks' research interests include studying the application of photonic crystals to quantum information processing, as well as the use of photonic crystals for practical tools in optical telecommunication and sensing.
Marc Swisdak is an Associate Research Scientist in IREAP. He received his Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Colorado in 1999. He did his post doctoral work at IREAP, left to become a research physicst at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and then returned to IREAP in 2007.
His current research interests include collisionless magnetic reconnection, ionospheric and magnetospheric turbulence as it relates to particle energization, and the formation and stability of bifurcated current sheets.
IREAP News
Second Edition of Reiser's Book
April 2008 -- The second edition of "Theory and Design of charged Particle Beams" by Professor Martin Reiser has been released. It includes a new chapter detailing the developments in beam physics since the publication of the first edition.
Prof. Melngailis Guest Professor at Technical University of Vienna
April 2008 -- Professor John Melngailis has been appointed a guest professor at the Technical University of Vienna, Austria, for six weeks beginning April 3, 2008 as part of the Fulbright Senior Specialist Program. He will teach a course on nanostructure fabrication, conduct a seminar, and collaborate on research related to ion beam - solid interaction, and on novel applications of the ion multibeam system being developed at IMS Inc.
Patrick O'Shea Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
July 2007 -- Patrick O'Shea has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dan Lathrop Featured on BBC's Leading Edge
June 2007 -- Dan Lathrop, Director of IREAP and Professor of Physics and Geology, was featured on the BBC Radio Science program "Leading Edge" on June 28.
Geoff Watts of BBC visited the University of Maryland to talk to Dr. Lathrop to discover why and how the north pole may soon become the south. The segment is called "Pole to Pole" and can found on http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/leadingedge.shtml.
Anthony (Tony) Franz Wins Award
May 2007 -- Tony Franz has been awarded the prize for the "Best Student Presentation" for the IREAP Graduate Student Seminars for Spring 2007 for his presentation entitled "Dynamics of Nonlinear Oscillators with Time Delays: Studies Using Fiber Lasers." Tony is a student of Dr. Rajarshi Roy.
Matthew Paoletti Receives "Best Student Presentation"
December 2006 -- The Graduate Student Seminar Committee has awarded the prize for the "Best Student Presentation" for the IREAP Graduate Student Seminars for Fall 2006 to Matthew Paoletti for his presentation entitled "Seeing the Quantum World: Visualizing Superfluid." Matthew is a student of Dr. Dan Lathrop. Matthew's name will be engraved on a plague to be displayed in IREAP.
Erin Rericha Receives Burroughs Wellcome Career Award
November 2006 -- Erin Rericha, who is a postdoc working with Dr. Wolfgang Losert, has received the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award for research at the interface of physics and biology. See the list of all 11 winners (the University of Maryland is in good company) at http://www.bwfund.org/programs/interfaces/career_grant_recipients.html. Receipt of this prestigious fellowship will cover the next up to two years of her postdoctoral training (jointly at IREAP and at the National Cancer Institute, NIH) as well as additional funding toward her faculty startup.
Mike Holloway Awarded SURA Fellowship
August 2006 -- Mike Holloway, a Ph.D. student of Dr. Patrick O'Shea, has been awarded a Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) Jefferson Laboratory Graduate Fellowship for the 2006-07 academic year. Mike conducts research in IREAP working with Dr. Ralph Fiorito. His research is focused on the development of better beam diagnostics for free electron lasers and is supported by the Joint Technology Office and the Office of Naval Research.
Professor Wes Lawson, New Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education
August 2006 -- Professor Wes Lawson has been appointed the new Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Professor Daniel Lathrop Becomes New Director of IREAP
July 2006 -- On June 8, 2006 Dean Steve Halperin (CMPS) and Dean Nariman Farvardin (Engineering) announced that Professor Daniel Lathrop had agreed to accept a five-year term as Director of the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics beginning July 1, 2006. Dr. Lathrop is an outstanding physicist whose research program may provide the world's first experimental self-sustaining duplication of the earth's magnetic field. This will open the way to the study of this remarkable natural phenomenon, which is absolutely essential to our continued survival onn this planet. Dan is the successor to Prof. Patrick O'Shea, the present Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Masahiro Toiya Wins Award
May 2006 -- The Graduate Student Seminar Committee has awarded the prize for the "Best Student Presentation" for the IREAP Graduate Student Seminars for Spring 2006 to Masahiro Toiya for his presentation entitled "Shear Reversals in Granular Flows." Masahiro is a student of Dr. Wolfgang Losert. Masahiro has previously won this award in the Fall of 2003. He received a prize and his name will be engraved on a plague to be displayed in IREAP.
James Drake and Mikhail Sitnov Featured in News Story
February 2006 -- James Drake (Physics, IPST, and IREAP) and Mikhail Sitnov (IREAP) were featured in a story in the Maryland Daily Record on February 27 and the Baltimore Sun on February 18 about their new NASA grant for research on explosions that occur when the sun's magnetic field slams into the earth's field. Dr. Drake was also interviewed by Channel 13 News on March 2 about his research and its applications to astronauts and space flight safety.
Daniel Lathrop Mentioned in Physics Today
February 2006 -- Daniel Lathrop, Physics and IREAP, was mentioned in Physics Today's February issue in an article about magneto-hydrodynamics experiments.
Rami Kishek Is Elevated to the Grade of Senior Member in the IEEE
February 2006 -- Rami Kishek, Research Associate Professor in IREAP, has been elevated to the grade of Senior Member in the IEEE. Only 7.6% of approximately 367,000 members of the IEEE hold this grade which requires experience reflecting professional maturity and significant professional achievements.
Professors Helping Create New Global Energy Source
February 2006 -- Professors Adil Hassam and Richard Ellis were featured in an article entitled "Profs Helping Create new Global Energy Source" found on diamondbackonline.com. The article is about the experiments Drs. Hassam and Ellis, and their team of research assistants and students, are doing on the Maryland Centrifugal Experiment (MCX). Their group is part of the national Fusion Energy Sciences Program which includes hundreds of researchers from around the nation who are working on a project that would not only build a hydrogen-fueled star on Earth, but would also provide a new source of energy that could become the world's primary power source.
